MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) May 5, 2015-- Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the half year results reported by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ; AA-/Stable/A-1+) are supportive of our issuer credit ratings on the bank and its subsidiaries, including its wholly owned New Zealand banking subsidiary ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd. (AA-/Stable/A-1+). The announcement today supports our view that ANZ's earning metrics are likely to remain strong relative to international peers. Nevertheless, we expect that similar to other Australian banks, the growth in ANZ's earnings would remain relatively restrained in the next two years, reflecting subdued sentiment for business investments in Australia and continued pressures on interest margins. We note that strong performance in the
